The Department of Health said that it is considering CSC's future within the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) followed the vendor's failure to deliver its Lorenzo patient software system to a self-set deadline at Pennine Care foundation trust, which provides mental health services to 1.2 million people in parts of Greater Manchester and Derbyshire.

The department said: "We can confirm that the Department of Heath is considering the options available under the current contract, including termination. This action follows the notification by CSC of its failure to meet a new deadline that CSC itself proposed for delivering Lorenzo."

Along with BT, CSC is one of the two major vendors to the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), responsible for local implementation work in the north, midlands and eastern regions of England. It took over responsibility for the northern and eastern regions from Accenture in 2007, and in 2009-10 it earned £213.2m from its NPfIT work.

Victor Almeida, senior healthcare analyst at Kable, said: "This is just one more in a string of failures to deliver software systems as part of the NPfIT. CSC will probably continue to work with the health department and local trusts to implement patient systems, but the format is unclear. The doors, of course, will remain open to other players."